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We're moving to a rental house that doesn't have a washer or dryer. Any tips on whether to buy used or new, which brands are good, front load vs. top load washers, etc? I'm leaning towards just rolling the dice on Craigslist, is there any reason we should look elsewhere?
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Mar 26, 2015 14:58
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Mind_Taker posted:We're moving to a rental house that doesn't have a washer or dryer. Any tips on whether to buy used or new, which brands are good, front load vs. top load washers, etc? You could look for local repair shops in your area or just a general used appliance shop. My father picked up a decent "high performance" set second hand from a small local shop, definitely not as swank or stylish as a brand new set from Lowe's or what not, but nicer than using a laundromat and I think it ran him about $400 for the set. They've been working just fine now for the last five years.
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Mar 26, 2015 18:34
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Mind_Taker posted:We're moving to a rental house that doesn't have a washer or dryer. Any tips on whether to buy used or new, which brands are good, front load vs. top load washers, etc? In my opinion top load load washers with an agitator just do a better job. I'd avoid a front load washer. I bought a Kenmore washer and dryer separately off craigslist and they've been going strong for a year or two now. Cost me about $150 for both. If you go the craigslist route, just ask why they're getting rid of the appliance and make sure they're not trying to sell you a broken piece of crap. Ask for a demonstration of the machine running. The guy I bought my washer from was willing to do that.
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Mar 26, 2015 21:09
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If you have a Consumer Reports subscription they're always reviewing washers and dryers. I have a set of Whirlpools (front load washer) and they've been going strong and survived a pretty rough move. Most of the time people who claim front loaders don't work or break down too often didn't bother to level them and they shake themselves apart. It's a pain in the rear end and a multiple person job to level the washer but it's a one-time thing.
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Mar 27, 2015 01:59
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AuntBuck posted:In my opinion top load load washers with an agitator just do a better job. I'd avoid a front load washer. That said they're also more expensive, which may or may not be worth it for a house rental.
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Mar 27, 2015 07:16
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We got our set at a Sears Outlet. If you don't care about some cosmetic dings and scrapes, they'll discount the hell out of those sometimes.  We got front loaders, and I'm brainfarting on the brand (Whirlpool?).
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Mar 27, 2015 16:36
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Some areas have appliance rental services, when I first moved out on my own I got a place with hookups but no washer/dryer and I couldn't afford to buy my own right away so I rented some for like $20/month.
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Mar 27, 2015 18:11
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used, craigslist special. When you buy a new washer/dryer and Sears hauls away the old one for free, they auction those to guys who repair them and sell them used. A washer dryer really only has a few mechanical parts and will run forever if you repair them.
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Mar 27, 2015 20:55
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Had movers come yesterday for my cross-country move. Everything went well until the end. They said I needed to pay 50% up front, which they did not tell me about beforehand but was reasonable. I offered to pay with check but he said it had to be either bank check, credit card or cash. He was pretty insistent on cash. I wanted to pay by CC so there would be a record of the transaction and he said there'd be a 3% fee to pay by card. Or, he would wait while I went to the ATM. I told him I would eat the fee and pay by card. He told me to make sure I had the rest in bank check for when the movers delivered my stuff as they wouldn't take cash. Was he trying to scam me? I don't feel comfortable handing that much money over to someone with just a paper record of the transaction. The fact that he told me that the movers that will be delivering my stuff don't take cash made me more suspicious.
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Apr 1, 2015 21:20
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photomikey posted:you can take them to small claims and get 100% back. It's an easy process if you're still local. Do this. I had to sue my landlord in 2010. It was a pain but in the end didn't cost me anything and I got more than my security deposit back.
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Apr 1, 2015 21:22
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Cheesegod posted:Had movers come yesterday for my cross-country move. Everything went well until the end. They said I needed to pay 50% up front, which they did not tell me about beforehand but was reasonable. I offered to pay with check but he said it had to be either bank check, credit card or cash. He was pretty insistent on cash. I wanted to pay by CC so there would be a record of the transaction and he said there'd be a 3% fee to pay by card. Or, he would wait while I went to the ATM. I told him I would eat the fee and pay by card. He told me to make sure I had the rest in bank check for when the movers delivered my stuff as they wouldn't take cash.
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Apr 1, 2015 21:25
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Cheesegod posted:Had movers come yesterday for my cross-country move. Everything went well until the end. They said I needed to pay 50% up front, which they did not tell me about beforehand but was reasonable. I offered to pay with check but he said it had to be either bank check, credit card or cash. He was pretty insistent on cash. I wanted to pay by CC so there would be a record of the transaction and he said there'd be a 3% fee to pay by card. Or, he would wait while I went to the ATM. I told him I would eat the fee and pay by card. He told me to make sure I had the rest in bank check for when the movers delivered my stuff as they wouldn't take cash. How you were planning on paying? I assume you had some kind of contract or something?
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Apr 1, 2015 21:31
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FISHMANPET posted:How you were planning on paying? I assume you had some kind of contract or something? I paid a small deposit with my credit card when I booked the movers, I assumed it was on file and they would just charge it.
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Apr 1, 2015 21:34
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You may or may not be getting scammed, but I'd be sure to look at whatever you agreed to to figure out what's going on.
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Apr 1, 2015 21:51
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Paying movers in cash seems totally normal to me (NYC). If it's enough that you're paranoid about it, get him to handwrite a receipt and take a pic of him with it.
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Apr 2, 2015 01:34
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i like nice words
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I'd expect them to hold onto your stuff until you pay them more money....
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Apr 2, 2015 02:44
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Have you checked out that company on movingscam.com? Be prepared to get hosed over, that sounds shady as hell.
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Apr 2, 2015 03:14
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Anne Whateley posted:Paying movers in cash seems totally normal to me (NYC). If it's enough that you're paranoid about it, get him to handwrite a receipt and take a pic of him with it. Paying movers in cash seems normal to me for an in-town move, where the guys come and move all your stuff and then when it is at the new place you hand them cash on their way out the door. Handing someone a big stack of cash up front on a cross-country move seems much less typical, particularly because I think its pretty rare to find guys that are doing the whole move themselves - usually its one set of guys who pack you up, the driving might get cut between a couple people, and then the unloading is someone else entirely. Handing one guy on that chain the payment can seem pretty iffy.
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Apr 2, 2015 14:53
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FISHMANPET posted:You may or may not be getting scammed, but I'd be sure to look at whatever you agreed to to figure out what's going on. I don't know why I didn't do that first, I guess I'm stressed about moving and not thinking straight. I looked at the contract and it does say basically everything the mover said. 50% when they take your stuff, payable in cash, credit card or bank check. 3% fee on credit card transactions. However it does say that I can pay the rest in cash when I receive my stuff (not that I'd want to). I'm moving to California and I know they have a bunch of weird laws, so maybe you can't pay a moving company in cash out there? Skutter posted:Have you checked out that company on movingscam.com? Be prepared to get hosed over, that sounds shady as hell. I did just now. I searched for them but they're not on there. I take it that's a good thing?
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Apr 2, 2015 15:14
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Yeah, if it's in the contract you're fine. You could always contest the charge later anyway since you paid by card. They probably just hand it off to company B at some point and each one gets half. Seems reasonable.
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Apr 2, 2015 16:57
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I want to move to California, specifically near LA and I'm going to visit in a few months to check out potential areas but I have no idea what's what out there and I'm trying to narrow down the list of places I want to visit. This is a crosspost from the LA Thread in LAN where I go into details about whereabouts I'm going to be looking at: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3032518&pagenumber=270#post443769571
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Apr 7, 2015 22:58
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I bought a leather sofa, but it got a bit grimy in storage. What should I use to clean it without damaging it? I suppose after the cleaning I could treat it like a huge pair of shoes ans brush in some leather conditioner.
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Apr 9, 2015 16:09
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I'm going to get two U-Pack containers to fill up for my move, and while the company supplies the containers and I've got movers to load everything on, I'm told that any straps/covers/rope are to be supplied by me. I... really have no idea how many I need. I'll be getting two containers that are 7'x6'3" and at a height of 8'4" (supposedly enough for a two-bedroom house). I figured one container will be mostly furniture while the other mostly boxed stuff, but I wasn't sure how tightly packed they'd all be on their own.
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Apr 11, 2015 04:22
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Anything that can be scratched or can get dirty should be covered with a moving blanket. It doesn't seem like a lot, but you need a couple of dozen. U-Haul rents them for a buck a piece, but I'm not sure if you can rent them without renting a truck for them to go in. Don't know about rope, but rope is cheap, I'd have a couple spools on hand. Strapping at the very least.
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Apr 11, 2015 05:03
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You can rent U-Haul truck supplies without renting a truck. We rented a bunch of blankets from them last move, got something like 10 for $5. They do one-way rentals for that stuff so you don't have to worry about getting it back to its original location and they're pretty lenient with return dates if your truck is late or whatever. Their boxes are also top-notch, I used their china barrels and glassware boxes last move and didn't have a single broken item. As for cleaning a leather sofa you can get leather cleaning wipes at most stores, they're by the furniture polish. If you want a leather conditioner I'd recommend Horsemans One Step.
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Apr 11, 2015 15:52
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When contesting a rent increase, can you give a reason that your landlord is a greedy gently caress? I was just given a 60 day notice (required by CA/Oakland housing law) of a rent increase of 35% ($1850/mo -> $2500/mo) by my landlord. I have lived at the residence for a little over a year and a half now, and for the first year and a half my rent did not increase (because my then room mate and I signed a 6/mo lease with an option for a year renewal, which we took, however my room mate actually moved out within a month of signing the renewal. The landlord wanted to throw out the current lease at that point and wanted to raise my rent to a month to month option @ 2500/mo, but the owner (a friend of mine) made the landlord honor the current lease when I found a new room mate. I understand that, yes, rents go up over time and my friend has a reasonable expectation of a reasonable rate of return on their investment, but 35%? Really? I know the market around here is on fire, but loving come on. According to the resources I'm reading we can legally petition the increase because it is above the annual CPI rate for rent increases for 2015 (2.4%). How exactly does the petition process work? Is it a You Win/They Win kind of deal, or is it something where a more reasonable rate is set by a third party? Wicaeed fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Apr 16, 2015 |
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Apr 16, 2015 01:58
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I would make sure your apartment is covered by that ordinance http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/hcd/s/LandlordResources/DOWD008759 And then it seems like it's really up to the landlord to prove that one of these conditions is met. Also you need to petition within 60 days. quote:Banking: More detail here: http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/ceda/documents/agenda/oak049492.pdf
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Apr 16, 2015 09:00
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I would just move. It's possible that you could get the rent reduced, but what happens after that? You're locked into a lease with a land lord who is pissed that they aren't getting the price they want. I wouldn't count on maintenance requests being completed any time soon.
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Apr 16, 2015 14:36
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I'm subletting from another person for the final month of their lease and then signing my own for a year. I've read the lease and signed it. The person in the house now was just told there is a sublease fee. Can they collect that if it is not written in the lease agreement? And who would be responsible for that - me or the current tenant? edit: this is in Florida loldance fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Apr 16, 2015 |
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Apr 16, 2015 19:20
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loldance posted:I'm subletting from another person for the final month of their lease and then signing my own for a year. I've read the lease and signed it. The person in the house now was just told there is a sublease fee. Can they collect that if it is not written in the lease agreement? And who would be responsible for that - me or the current tenant?
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Apr 17, 2015 05:58
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loldance posted:I'm subletting from another person for the final month of their lease and then signing my own for a year. I've read the lease and signed it. The person in the house now was just told there is a sublease fee. Can they collect that if it is not written in the lease agreement? And who would be responsible for that - me or the current tenant? I think it would have to be in the old lease, since that's the lease that would apply while you're subletting, however IANAL.
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Apr 17, 2015 06:08
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Does anybody have a preferred renters insurance company?
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Apr 22, 2015 01:28
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JIZZ DENOUEMENT posted:Does anybody have a preferred renters insurance company? I think most people just get theirs through wherever they have auto insurance since it's just a couple bucks extra per month. Mine's USAA.
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Apr 22, 2015 02:24
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Is a potential landlord more likely to pass on me as an applicant if my employer uses a third-party verification service (InVerify)? As long as everything goes well with a work transfer, I'm moving to a new city soon and I'm nervous because I won't be able to provide anybody with anything on company letterhead verifying employment and salary. Is there anything else I can do? It seems landlords would have to pay to get my information through InVerify, so I assume they'd rather just go with another applicant whose job will happily confirm these things over the phone.
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Apr 22, 2015 22:36
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I only needed to present a job offer letter for my first ever apartment, everywhere else just does the standard credit/background check and only required I fill in my employer and salary on the application form. If you really need a company letterhead letter I can't imagine HR would refuse to type something up for you.
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Apr 23, 2015 00:43
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banana allergy posted:Is a potential landlord more likely to pass on me as an applicant if my employer uses a third-party verification service (InVerify)? As long as everything goes well with a work transfer, I'm moving to a new city soon and I'm nervous because I won't be able to provide anybody with anything on company letterhead verifying employment and salary. Pay for the letter yourself?
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Apr 23, 2015 00:49
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:Pay for the letter yourself? I mean yeah, I guess that's where I'm leaning. I just hope I don't end up paying this several times over while applying to places, and even if I offer to pay for it I'm concerned that the hassle and extra time will make them pass on it. I'm moving to New York where most of the landlords require a shitload of proof that you don't actually suck, and if you show up with any piece missing they'll just rent to the next guy. I've spoken to HR but the HR admin is pretty doubtful that my super-secretive company will allow her to write something up for me. Hopefully she finds something she has the power to give me.
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Apr 23, 2015 01:56
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I've always asked for those letters from my boss rather than HR. Can you go to your boss and be like "I know this is bullshit, but can you just write 'Yeah she works here and it's cool'?" I agree InVerify is probably going to put landlords off, but as long as the letter looks normal, they don't usually follow up. So if you work for the double-secret FBI, your boss could make up Fancy Business Initials letterhead with just a legit phone number.
Anne Whateley fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Apr 23, 2015 |
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Apr 23, 2015 02:00
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banana allergy posted:I mean yeah, I guess that's where I'm leaning. I just hope I don't end up paying this several times over while applying to places, and even if I offer to pay for it I'm concerned that the hassle and extra time will make them pass on it. I'm moving to New York where most of the landlords require a shitload of proof that you don't actually suck, and if you show up with any piece missing they'll just rent to the next guy. You can't just get one and make copies?
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Apr 23, 2015 02:12
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:You can't just get one and make copies? I literally do not have access to my own information when I log in as an employee. I can request a letter for a visa but that's about it. I'm going to keep asking around the management team at work if there's anything that can be written up or fudged so I don't have to deal with this steaming pile of bullshit. I just re-read my HR info and it says that InVerify requests often take up to a week. I'm just going to figure something else out because I'll never have a week to wait. Hopefully I'll just get lucky and find a landlord who is satisfied with the other 600 pages of info I have proving that I am a person with a job that makes money.
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Apr 23, 2015 02:53
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